Did Trump tromp on Biden at the debate?

President Joe Biden lost the first presidential debate in less than 14 minutes. That isn’t to say that former President Donald Trump didn’t excel — he did — but no one-liner hit the incumbent harder than the incumbent hit himself.

By minute 18, Biden had even flubbed the abortion question: mumbling, muttering, changing the subject to illegal immigration, and then tossing the ball back to Trump to hit it out of the park.

Even when given a second chance, and doing a little better, Biden failed to wound an opponent willing to call the Democratic Party out on its own abortion policies. “He's willing to rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month,” Trump challenged, “and kill the baby. ... We think the Democrats are the radicals. Not the Republicans.

Trump was his old self, confident and agile without bullying. By the time the border really was the topic, he landed his first authentic laugh-out-loud line in response to a rambling and incoherent Biden: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of this.”

Did Trump tromp on Biden at the debate?

By contrast, the current president looked lost for the first 20 minutes especially. His eyes were closed. He mumbled. He lost his place, having a “Rick Perry moment" every single answer of the first half hour, traditionally the most important part of the debate, before Americans begin to tune out.

Biden caught himself by about the end of that first crucial half-hour. His eyes began to blink to life; he seemed to gain better control of his facial expressions.

It’s important to remember that the debate took place entirely on Biden’s terms, including the stipulation that the hosts control the microphones and that there’s no studio audience for the first time since Richard Nixon debated John F. Kennedy in 1960

Biden needed this win. Nearly every single poll is going the wrong way for him, and he bombed it.

Did Trump tromp on Biden at the debate?
Did Trump tromp on Biden at the debate?
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